nirvāṇa upaniṣad

[yajvan]

hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~


namasté


There is a very short upaniṣad called the nirvāṇa upaniṣad. Nirvāṇa is defined as blown or put out , extinguished calmed , quieted , tamed ; yet as a noun it is perfect calm or repose or happiness , highest bliss. Hence we are informed of what this upaniṣad is about from its title.

Yet what I find interesting is, it says the following: sohaṁ (सोहं) is gāyatrī. It is referring to the use of this matraṁ.

Yet how come it is called gāyatrī ? we know gāyatrī as a meter (chandas) and also as the mantra of the ṛg ved. How does the ṛṣi come to this conclusion ?

Any thoughts?

praṇām

[Ekanta]

I can ad this for now (hope it makes sense):

Soham
so = sah = he = Brahman
ham = aham (can also be ahamkara) = I
Soham then means: �he-I� or �I am He�
If we take away �s� from �so� and �ha� from �ham� we are left with OM


Hamsa (swan or the vehicle of sarasvati) is soham the other way round
"Ha" is the sound of exhalation (breath out aham-kara / ego). "Sa" is the sound of inhalation (breath in sah/ he/ God)

Sarasvatis vehicle is the Hamsa (Swan). Hamsa/Soham = breath in and out.
Sarasvati (word or music) rides on the breath (hamsa/soham). Sarasvati is also know as Gayatri. Sarasvati/ Gayatri as the creative principle sound is OM. (as seen the essence of Soham is also OM)

Gayatri is said to be the essence of the vedas right? "bhūr bhuvaḥ svaḥ" are said to be the essence of the three vedas, and the essence of "bhūr bhuvaḥ svaḥ" is OM.

[yajvan]

hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~


namasté Ekanta,


I can ad this for now (hope it makes sense):

Soham
so = sah = he = Brahman
ham = aham (can also be ahamkara) = I
Soham then means: ”he-I” or “I am He”
If we take away “s” from “so” and “ha” from “ham” we are left with OM

Hamsa (swan or the vehicle of sarasvati) is soham the other way round
"Ha" is the sound of exhalation (breath out aham-kara / ego). "Sa" is the sound of inhalation (breath in sah/ he/ God)

Sarasvatis vehicle is the Hamsa (Swan). Hamsa/Soham = breath in and out. Sarasvati (word or music) rides on the breath (hamsa/soham). Sarasvati is also know as Gayatri. Sarasvati/ Gayatri as the creative principle sound is OM. (as seen the essence of Soham is also OM)

Gayatri is said to be the essence of the vedas right? "bhūr bhuvaḥ svaḥ" are said to be the essence of the three vedas, and the essence of "bhūr bhuvaḥ svaḥ" is OM.


A most excellent & robust post... if I may , I would like to contribute just a bit more.

Regarding this word sohaṁ. We can view it as so + haṁ ; 'so' by itself means to destroy. The 2nd derivation of 'so' is another name for pārvatī. Yet if we go to the 3rd derivation of 'so' it brings us to 'sa' & 'sā' ( and eventually sau), but for now lets consider this 'sa'.

sa स by itself is considered a noun for śiva and/or viṣṇu; a noun for knowledge, or meditation. If we extend the 'a' and make it sā सा it becomes giving, bestowing, granting. This sā is also a noun for Lakṣmī or Gaurī, sā another name for them both.Now we need to look at the next part of so + haṁ , or haṁ.

this 'ham' is an exclamation of courtesy or respect ; yet it is also it leads us to 'ha' which is the shortened version of aham or 'I am'.Lets put together what we know:
so = 'sa' & 'sā' = bestowing or granting + śiva and/or viṣṇu
haṁ = ha = I am, and at the same time haṁ is that exclamation of respect, revered.

With this so + haṁ we are offering repspect and at the same time winning favor of śiva and/or viṣṇu. We are acknowledging I am (ha) śiva.
But what of 'so' ? It means to destroy. What is being destroyed ? Ignorance. As one comes to know I am (ha) śiva (sa), no ignorance can exist in the fullness (bhuma) of śiva and/or viṣṇu.

I will wait for other POV's , then offer some additional info (not different, just and extended view) on this word gāyatrī and see what it contributes to the conversation.

praṇām

[MahaHrada]

Regarding this word .... .....


The correct sanskrit derivation of soham is a combination of two words saH + ahaM.

The joining of saH + ahaM according to the grammatical principle of "Visarga Sandhi" (joining of words ending with "Visarga" = "aH" ) leads to the formation of a single letter "o" and the dropping of the Visarga and the short "a" vowel of the second word.

ahaM is the first person singular " I " and saH is third person singular masc. "He". Soham is the unification of both. In other words "He" is "I".

Table of rules for visarga sandhi: http://bp3.blogger.com/_cbbxzbV8Uag/RxWbKQiLBAI/AAAAAAAAABQ/xYDd_mPi2Fw/s1600-h/chvdhN.jpeg

[yajvan]

hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~


namasté

The question:

Yet how come it (sohaṁ (सोहं) ) is called gāyatrī ? We may need to look at this gāyatrī a little deeper:

gāyatrī is the femine version of gāyatra - both indicating a hymn.
we know gāyatrī as a meter (chandas) - twenty-four syllables, generally as a triplet of eight syllables per line ; hence one can say a hymn is composed in the gāyatrī meter with these characteristics.
we know the mantraṁ from the ṛg ved¹:

tát savitúr váreṇyam
bhárgo devásya dhīmahi
dhíyo yó naḥ pracodáyāt
Note too that this occuring in the ṛg veda (3.62.10) does not appear with the mahāvyāhṛti of bhūr bhuvaḥ svaḥ; nor does it begin with oṃ. This has been added for a few reasons, which has been addressed before on HDF.




gāyatrī is addressed to savitṛ or the Sun as generator , we also call it sāvitrī ; the gāyatrī verse is personified as a goddess , the wife of brahmā and mother of the four vedas
It is considered another name of durgā
Kṛṣṇa ( some write kṛṣṇ) informs us in the 10th chapter of the bhāgavad gītā , of the sama chant ( that which is sung) He is gāyatrī.

I would like to answer the question posed in this manner. Lets look at this word gāyatrī this way... gāya+ trī :

gāya+na is singing; a praiser
traya is triple; also means chanting; the gāyatrī hymn is 3 lines of 8 syallables or 24 in total, hence the relevence of 3.
And trā is defined as protector, and it is rooted in trai which means to protect , preserve , cherish , defend , rescue from.

Hence sohaṁ is considered gāyatrī because the praiser (gāyana) that chants (traya) the hymn/mantra sohaṁ is protected and rescued (trai)...
But one may question, where is this 3 in sohaṁ ? IMHO I view it like this: so+haṁ+___ . The pause/silence at the end of the mantra is called amātra.
Amātra means without measure or duration. This is the 3rd part of sohaṁ, silence. It is the silence that grows and becomes the 4th ( turitya); we can leave this idea for another post.

Is there another view on this gāyatrī ? Consider the post offered by sarabhanga back in 2006 : http://www.hindudharmaforums.com/showpost.php?p=7875&postcount=6 (http://www.hindudharmaforums.com/showpost.php?p=7875&postcount=6)

praṇām

[Ekanta]

I've also read the following, plz comment:

Ga: Ganga � gāyatrī (represents karma yoga)
Ya: Yamuna � sāvitrī (represents bhakti yoga)
Tri: Triveni (meeting place) � sarasvatī (represents j�āna yoga)

Which again could be viewed as

kriyā śakti (power of action).
icchā śakti (power of will).
j�āna śakti (power of wisdom) .

[yajvan]

hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~


namasté Ekanta



kriyā śakti (power of action).
icchā śakti (power of will).
jñāna śakti (power of wisdom) .

Here is one view to consider:

1. ga¹ as a noun is a name for gaṇeśa ; ga is rooted in gam, and this gam is defined as going, moving. There is another view that ga is also rooted in gai which infers singing. Hence ga= going, moving = action and I can see how this meets kriyā śakti. Yet a perfect fit would be kṛ - as it is defined as to do , make , perform , accomplish , cause , effect , prepare , undertake

2. ya¹ is in some cases rooted in yā which is defined as a mover or goer. Yet yā in its 4th derivative is another name of lakṣmī. This 'ya' is also considered religious (spiritual) meditation. For this definition and various derivatives I do not ( immediately) see the connection back to icchā śakti , but again the connection back to kriyā śakti seems more apparent. A a better fit (IMHO) is kā which is rooted in kan which is to seek , desire and seems to me a better fit with icchā.

3. tri brings us to '3' as it is interchangeable with tráyas. from my last post above I offered the following:

traya is triple; also means chanting; the gāyatrī hymn is 3 lines of 8 syllables or 24 in total, hence the relevance of 3.
And trā is defined as protector, and it is rooted in trai which means to protect , preserve , cherish , defend , rescue from.

Within the word jñāna we have jña and it is defined as knowledge. So you would think, perhaps this 'ja' is the root and leads to the notion of wisdom or knowledge, yet this is not the case. The 'ja' leads us to birth i.e. born or descended from , produced or caused by , born or produced in or at or upon , growing in , living at. A perfect fit would be 'vid' defined knowing , understanding , a knower . From 'vid' we get ved ( some write veda).

One can ask, in points 1 and 2 above, one sound ~letter~ from the saṁskṛt alphabet (devanāgarī) was offered to define a quality ( make, do, protect, etc) - where is that one letter in jñāna that is the concentrated form of wisdom? It is 'na', or more specifically nā . This nā in the feminine gender, 3rd derivation, is defined as knowledge. Yet ṇa is defined as knowledge without getting too fancy in its ferreting out its definition.


praṇām

words

ga is the 3rd consonant of the saṁskṛt alphabet
ya is the 1st semivowel saṁskṛt alphabet; semivowel is considered an in-bewtween sound - between a consonant and a vowel called antaḥstha or 'being in the midst or between'
na the 20th consonant of the saṁskṛt alphabet; ṇa is the 15th consonant of the saṁskṛt alphabet; both part of the consonants called sparśa.

[Ekanta]

I must take some time to read your post yajvan... at the meantime here are some more to play with (from Sathya Sai baba):

What do you make of this and the word gayas?

"Well, what is the real meaning of the word Gayatri? Does anyone try to know it today? The word is taken to mean either a Goddess or a formula. Gayatri is that which protects (thra) the life breaths (gayas or pranas) or the senses (indriyas), beginning with speech. Besides, it is said, that which saves those who sing it, revere it, repeat it, or meditate on it is called Gayatri." (SSB, Dharma Vahini)

"One meaning of Gayatri is that it is a mantra (sacred formula) that protects or fosters the "Gayas" or jivis (individual beings)." (SSB, 830317)

[yajvan]

hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~


namast� Ekanta

"One meaning of Gayatri is that it is a mantra (sacred formula) that protects or fosters the "Gayas" or jivis (individual beings)." (SSB, 830317)

regarding gayas:
gaya is 'what has been conquered or acquired '; gaya rooted in 'ji' to conquer (the passions) , overcome or remove any desire or difficulties or diseases.
I am in concert with what SSB offers - that which protects i.e.


Hence sohaṁ is considered gāyatrī because the praiser (gāyana) that chants (traya) the hymn/mantra sohaṁ is protected and rescued (trai)...
praṇām